The performance of the Congress party in the just-concluded first phase of elections to the cooperative societies has come as a sort of morale booster for Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy who lost no opportunity to claim credit before the Congress high command and neutralise the Telangana issue.

Kiran, who had a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Monday, submitted a report to her on the performance of the Congress party in the cooperative body elections. He told her that the Congress still enjoyed the support of majority sections of people, particularly farmers who were members of the cooperative societies. The election results are a reflection of the people’s continued support to the Congress party. He assured that the party would get similar results in the local body elections as well.

Earlier, Kiran gave a similar report to AICC in-charge of Andhra affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad. He pointed out that though everybody believed that there was a strong Telangana sentiment in the region, the cooperative body elections proved otherwise. The Congress bagged majority of the cooperative societies in Telangana, followed by the TDP and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi finished a poor third.

Even minister for minor irrigation T G Venkatesh claimed that the cooperative body elections were a referendum on Samaikyandhra. “The Congress won majority seats in Telangana region. If it repeats its performance in the second phase, too, then there is no need to consider separate Telangana demand,” he asserted.